News from Cenacle Treatment Center

Diagnosis Of ADHD On The Rise in America

The number of American children leaving doctors' surgery's with an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis has risen 66 percent in 10 years, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study. Over this same time frame, specialists, instead of primary care physicians, have begun treating an increasing number of these young patients, the study found. Though these types of treatment programs are normally pharmaceutical driven and will make children with ADHD dependant on medication such as "Ritalin" or similar. The article written in medical news & sourced from journal Academic Pediatrics relates to the rate and the effects of medication with children who have ADHD.

There has been suggestion that certain food colourings and additives ( E numbers) can be responsible, this is mentioned in a CNN report outlining these cause & effects.
"Scientific evidence is limited to support the association between food additives and ADHD symptoms," says Dr. Maida Galvez, M.D., director of the pediatric environmental health specialty unit at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in New York City. "Although it is possible that a very small group of children who are allergic to artificial colourings or preservatives may show improvement in symptoms on restriction diets, evidence is insufficient to recommend routine, widespread use of restriction diets to treat a child's ADHD symptoms."

UK trials on non pharmaceutical support for children with ADHD

The study will review methods used in schools for children with ADHD, a spokesperson said. Researchers from the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry will publish their findings in 2014.

The study hopes to find which methods work best to reduce symptoms and provide best value for money.

Lead researcher Tamsin Ford said: "Some families feel that drug treatment for this kind of problem is unacceptable, and of those who take the drugs about 70% will respond to the first drug and another 10% to 20% will respond to trying a second.

"The work we will be doing is to go out and systematically pull together the work that other people have conducted to see what are the non-drug alternatives." Ms Ford said ADHD was often characterised by a difficulty to concentrate, restlessness and impulsiveness, although some people grew out of it.

Mindfulness calming symptoms of ADHD

It may seem like a stretch, since difficulty with mindfulness is the very challenge for those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. And yet recent research shows that mindfulness training can be adapted for this condition and that it can improve concentration. Various clinicians and educators are already teaching mindfulness to people with ADHD as well as to overly stressed school children.